In Message Message #1370 < UK Kharijis > I had written, in response to the question "Are we living in dar al-Harb?":

Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti confirmed to me the view that at the present time there is nowhere on the face of the earth a declared state of war between any two respectively Muslim and non-Muslim states.

Following is the exact reply of Shaykh Afifi which was in response to four questions of mine bearing on his fatwa "Defending the Oppressed" last summer:

1. The only proper qualified authority to declare jihad on another state is the executive and political authority of a Muslim state.

Yes.

1a. At the present time there is nowhere on the face of the earth a declared state of war between any two respectively Muslim and non- Muslim states.

Yes.

2. A Muslim in a non-Muslim state is Shari`a-legally a guest whether he is a national of that state or not.

Yes, fiqh-wise. But because it is such a delicate fact, I did not want to say more than the minimum and even then only in passing and allusively, for fear that those who are citizens of non-Muslim states would feel they did not belong there and have no stake in that society and are not entitled to their legitimate rights as a citizen in that state. It had to be said of course, only as a gentle reminder for those who know, so as to not to forget themselves; smile.

2a. "Dhimmi" is not an absolute religious category restricted to non-Muslim protectees of a Muslim state but a relative qualifier which also applies to Muslim citizens, residents, and visitors of a non- Muslim state.

Yes, literally, it is not an absolute religious category. Yet, technically and historically, when it is used as such on its own in our manuals, it does refer to the kafir dhimmi (as opposed to the increasingly less rare and now an everyday waqi'a from the Imam al- Muhaqqiq's Fatwa, the Muslim dhimmi).